Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

I was at the bookstore a few weeks ago, and found this book. I bought it for my younger brother, and DH swiped it from me. This book is WRONG, just WRONG, and is suitable for anyone you know who is driving the bus to hell.

Yesterday, DH and I went on a Christmas Wine Trail....a tasting sample and an ornament at each vineyard. I don't think I will buy tickets again, because folks physically can't GO to every single vineyard in a weekend. It's a lot of work. And since we never DO, I am going to skip tickets, and plan on a tasting fee at each vineyard.

I will tell you about our two current favorite 'wine zones'.

Highway 290, between Fredricksburg and Johnson City.

Skip the Fredricksburg Winery in downtown Fredricksburg. Head east on Hwy 290.

Stop off at the Circle E Candle showroom, and buy prezzies. We bought "colleague thank yous" for the admin folks that help DH out, and pressed on. Gifts run 5.00 and up. It was the weekend before Christmas, so we didn't see FABULOUS buys, but maybe during other times of the year?

Then on to wine-Grape Creek, Torre de Pietra, and Becker are our favorites. Woodrose-not so much-they have some growing to do. We haven't had a chance to visit Perdenales yet.

We also like Comfort and Sisterdale.

Comfort Cellars Winery. This place is fun and creative. We plan to bring my DBIL, a serious winer (!) there sometime, just to 'punk him.' We bypassed the Orange Chardonnay and Jalapeno wine (yes REALLY-I tried it because it might be good in salad dressing) in favor of the Comfort Gold.

This was one of the secret stars of yesterday's trip. It's WAY the hell out there-of course the deer all went into hiding when I hunted down the camera. The signage sucks, and it's way out in Outer Nowhere. They only make 4 wines-one white, three reds. We bought three bottles. VERY affordable, and we liked the wines better than many pricier bottles. Worth the trip.

Sister Creek Vineyards-we skipped them yesterday, but I strongly recommend.

The other secret star of the trip was The Tinsmith's Wife. I like this little yarn shop. Within 5 minutes of walking in there, I could tell I was in a variegated yarn lover's ship. Bliss.

I noticed she had a copy of this book, and I snatched it up. Looks like fun!

Friday, December 19, 2008

re: my last post? I've been getting oddball comments to my posts recently. That was just to say "Oh, I figured it out. I know who you are." I think I guessed right.

The cape and I-oh, the cape and I finally made friends. Well, not really friends, but we tolerate each other.

While I was in panic mode, I wrote Knitting Fever to ask about errors in the pattern. I got an answer back this week-

Hello Betsy,

I checked with the translator and they say there are no errors with the cape. The cape is also our sample for the season and none of the knitters noted any comments/errors.

Best regards,XXXXX

to which I said

There is definitely a problem with the pattern. I had to go to my LYS and look at it again-that was an 80 mile round trip. The stitch pattern instructions are written as if there are no short rows-so going back to tuck stitch at the neckline poses no problem, however, lower rows do not reach to the edge.

On Ravelry, I documented pattern errors as follows:

Well-it looks like I have found a mistake. Thedirections say to knit a tuck stitch, knitting together a stitch with its "correspondingstitch 4 rows previous " Mine didn't looklike the picture.

ETA: These directions kicked my butt so bad, I drove 40 miles to go look at the store sample again.

On the first pattern set up row, go back MORE than 4 rows. You are doing short rows…so 4 rows back would vary, depending on where you tucked back.

Go back to the first row.

On subsequent garter joins, go back to the last garter ridge. The original instructions are correct for the stitch pattern if it was knitted without short rows.

I am at about row 80 right now, and will let you know if I find further errors. Can you verify the yarn quantity required?

I am curious to see if they write me back before I know the answer. I just did the math, and am concerned about the yardage guesstimation. I bought 16 balls, but one is tied up in "Fourth Grader," the cute little entrelac hat pattern. I'll frog it when it's time, because I am pretty sure that the 620 grams called for is a good 100 grams short, at least. I am at row 117 now, and about 3.75 balls into it. Maybe 34 rows per ball? That puts it squarely at 15 balls. I can cannabalize one more for the collar. A total of 1552 yards, 200 yards MORE than what they are calling for, and I am sweating it. I am looking hard to scrounge ONE ball. Or two.

This pattern was written by torture artists. If you look at the photo, you can see I have the stitches at the left side on a holding cable. I just read ahead (and I NEVER read ahead) and saw that when I finish the body, I have to leave the body stitches on a cable, and work the hem. So I will have stitches on a holder, stitches on a needle, and the hem. All at once. Who does that?

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Wow. That's what I thought when I walked into my LYS and saw this leaflet next to the sample garment. I snapped Noro 24 (the leaflet) right up. This weekend, it crawled out of the want pile, and wriggled over next to some Needful Yarns I got on a raging good sale at Elann. So I cast on.

Now, I am a competent knitter. I can follow instructions. On the pattern set up row (Row 8), it has you reaching back "4 rs" to make a loop. On subsequent pattern rows, it says do loop stitch.

I looked up loop stitch, which was [knit tog the next stitch and the corresponding purl loop form previous row on the right side of the work]

My work looked like this. It was totally kicking my ass, so I drove to LYS and looked at the sample garment. (40 miles, dontcha know)

Well, the 4s were the problem. The first row needs to go back MORE than '4 rs' and subsequent rows just reach back to the previous garter ridge.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

I went out on Black Friday. (That has to be a sign that my meds are working-I haven't done that in years!)

I hit on a pretty good shoe sale. When I got home, I showed my DH what I got. "You'd better throw a pair ou....." he started to say. Then a confused look fell on his face, and he said "Those are for DGD, aren't they?" Why yes. The black shoes in this photo are mine. The others are for the 5 year old. I wear 7.5s.

DGD and I had a nice chat on Thanksgiving. Her mama helped her call, but was on the computer while she chatted. We ended up snapping pictures and flinging them into cyberspace at each other, and then giggling at each other's silly faces. We had a good time!

I've been working and working on my two at a time sleeves. Arghhhhhhhhhh. So dull, so dull. There are some new and beautiful patterns on the horizon.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

There's been a quality vs. compliments debate over Namaste bags in Knitland. One of my friends got so aggravated, she went to Vera Bradley. I wandered over there, and BOOM! I had gifts for all the women in my family. Aunts, cousins in Tokyo? Check. Impossible to buy for SIL? Check! DMIL? OMG-she's going to have a Verafest! I bought enough for her Christmas AND birthday, because I found a pretty good deal on a pattern (Capri) I know she'll like.

Words of advice?

-skip the Cool Keepers-they are a little on the small size. -prices vary according to color, so pay attention.-stay in the sale section.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

I had my first experience with 4-H today. I decided it should be the 5H club. The 5th H is for 'What the'.

I accompanied a friend and her DD to a food show. A function like that is a lot of work for the host. The crowd, too. A crowd for a regional food show can exceed 200 people, and could use a posted timetable. (Just saying.) Because I was there from 8:30 to 2:30. Trapped. In a high school cafeteria. With dozens of other parents, and herds of families. It qualified for a double H rating-I can only be so charming for so long.

It was interesting. My friend didn't have a lot of guidance, and it was Little B's first trip to a show. I brought gummies, granola bars and knitting. I got plenty done, and taught my friend. She made fussy "I can't noises" which I immediately quashed. "What, you think you are gonna be an expert in one row?" She shut that sniveling right up, laughed, and her knitting improved.

I don't know how useful 'judging' a kid's food entry is. They don't taste the entry (probably a good idea because of the likelihood of food poisoning). But if 4-H is an offshoot of the USDA (who knew?) and the purpose is to strengthen today's kids with old fashioned skills and knowledge that the schools can't teach because they have to give the annual literacy exam .... meh. One of the tenets of feedback is that it has to be useful. Little B had no idea how her entry actually scored-where was she strong, and what were her weak points?

The awards ceremony was interesting. The participants all got red ribbons. There was an alternate blue ribbon winner, and a blue ribbon winner for each category. I know I am an old bitch, and I am sure alternate blue ribbon used to be called second. (Blah!)

Little B was not fooled by a shiny red ribbon. She knew she didn't win, and snuffled in the back seat, exhausted, most of the 50 miles home. With real tears.

Monday, November 10, 2008

In her book Unexpected Knitting, Debbie New goes on and on about fractals, which I, in my barely passed algebra state, have difficulty understanding.

Wikipedia definesfractals as a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole, property called self-similarity.

This is an easier explanation:

Italian or Romanesco Broccoli. Also called Broccoflower, it is known for logarithmic spirals.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

I went to Kid 'n Ewe festival in Boerne yesterday. It was not jammed packed. I thought it might be because of the economy, maybe people's businesses contracted because of high fuel costs, etc etc. I couldn't figure it out, until I looked at Brook's Farm show schedule. Stitches East is this weekend. Ohhhhh.

I didn't buy much. No, really. I bought a skein of Plain and Fancy Sheep & Wool, some mohair locks, some Angelina (I just learned about that!), that ubiquitous swirling motif shawl pattern, and a magazine. I was kind of disappointed-I thought I was buying bondable Angelina, and she sold me staple (boooo-bad saleswoman-she pitched heat bondable!). On the other hand, after I bought the swirl shawl pattern, I realized that I HAVE a bunch of Engel German doily patterns-and I can use the same technique applications.

In other show news, we get a Stitches SOUTH in Atlanta next year. I did a little sleuthing. The hotel t'ain't cheap. No, really, it's 200 dollars a night. The airfare isn't bad. The event price isn't bad. The hotel puts it out of reach. I've started saving while I look for alternate lodging.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Monday, November 03, 2008

I'm on the 4th ball. Marta asked, and this is color 8001, the foresty green colorway. The twisty slip slant pattern is pretty mind-numbing, but a little fiddley, so I might just do a slip stitch on the back and sleeves. Haven't decided. I am on ball 4. Hope I have enough.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Monday, October 27, 2008

I was at Wallyland last week picking up a few things for DH's lunch. (He finally did the math on going out to lunch every day.) I was in the produce department, frisking roma tomatoes, I think.

Here in East Cupcake, it's common for stores to have big bins of pinto beans. Wally has a big bin of them, bigger than a garden tub, maybe the size of a small spa. It's tempting to walk by and sink your hand into that sea of beans.

I heard giggling the last time I was by the sea o' beans. I looked up. Two little girls, somewhere in between six and ten, were bellied up to the side of the bin, laughing like crazy. One leaned waaayyyy out over the bin. In the sea of beans was a shallow impression, the exact size of a little girl's head. She'd been pinto diving.

"You girls knock that off. That's someone's supper!" I said, in a stern, frowny voice. They got scared looks on their faces and vanished.

It was hard to keep a straight face.

Speaking of stern frowniness, I chose this as my Ravelry ravatar last week when it dawned on me that it's pretty close to election time. I found it by googling Obama and stupid. I decided it was time to quit pretending that everything was going to be ok if he was elected, that I could cope.

Fact is, I'm not so sure. DH and I talk about it. DD and I talked about it. At 10:30 last night, my BFF since HIGH SCHOOL called to check on my religious salvation and the state of my eternal soul, because she's afraid of what's going to happen if he does, or does not, get elected. I've known her for 30 years, and this is the first time we've ever discussed voting. Weird.

This ravatar brings out the best and worst of people. A lot of people will let me know they are ROFLMAO when they see it. Other people get MAD. I could say "I like chocolate" and someone would take me to task.

That's kind of what is happening. Someone was telling me how brilliant Obama was, and he surrounded himself with all these wonderful people to fill him in on areas where he lacked the expertise, and that synergy was fabulous. I told her that line of thinking was like putting a dog turd in a box of doughnuts. Doesn't make the dog turd or the doughnuts better, just kinda ruins everyone's day. No one liked that. But I am nice, I am not mean, or snarky. I just question an argument and people go OFF.

The most peculiar posts were people who took me to task for my viewpoint. I've answered some. The weird ones are from the Welsh. And the Irish. Quite vocal about how wrong I am. I finally got mad and said "I don't pretend my opinion counts in Irish politics." And no one backed me. I think I was yesterday's most hated on the thread.

Note: This filling is barely seasoned. Add up to a T. of herbs, or a t. of seasoning salt, or both, if you'd like.

1. For the dough: Lightly grease a large bowl with cooking spray. Mix the water, condensed milk, oil, sugar, and egg in a large measuring cup. Mix the flour, yeast and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with dough hook. With the mixer on low, add the water mixture. After the dough comes together, increase speed to medium and mix until shiny and smooth, 4 to 6 minutes. Turn the dough out on to a heavily floured work surface, shape in to a ball, and place in the greased bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

2. For the filling: Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook until just beginning to brown, about 6 minutes, breaking up any large clumps. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to a paper-towel-lined plate. Pour off all but two tablespoon of fat from the pan. Add the cabbage and toss until just beginning to wilt, 2 to 4 minutes. Return the beef to the pan. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Assembly and Baking: Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat two baking sheets with cooking spray. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into 7-inch circles. Place one dough round into a deep cereal bowl and top with one slice of cheese. Spoon 3/4 cup of filling over the cheese and pinch the edges of the dough together to form at bun. Transfer the bun, seam-side down, to a prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, cheese and filling, placing four buns on each sheet. Cover the buns with plastic wrap and let rise until puffed, about 20 minutes. Bake the buns until golden brown, about 20 minutes, switching and rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time. Brush the buns with the remaining melted butter and serve.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

When I went to see my little brother last spring, I was flabbergasted to learn that he loves to go out for pancakes on Sunday mornings. When I was a kid, my dad liked to make pancakes for my older brother and me on Saturday mornings. Trouble was, they were Aunt Jemima Buckwheat pancakes, and to a kid who liked Super Sugar Crisp cereal, just not very good. Saturdays were hellish for me, because I had to clean my plate.

So I was pretty puzzled about little bro's love of pancakes. I rustled together a few Bisquick Shake & Pours (and real Vermont maple syrup) when I mailed his Halloween costume last week. He recieved his box Monday, and wrote

"Hey the Bisquick sucks,"

to which I wrote "But you adore pancakes, and I don't understand why!"

"Dad used to take me to Village Inn."

Ohhh. Well, crap. Hope he enjoys being King Tut. There's still a high probability of pancakes after someone's party.

I had a leftover Bisquick to use, so today was pancake day at my house. I normally make Oster Blender recipe Sour Milk Pancakes, because they are nothing like Aunt Jemima and her nasty buckwheat. This morning, I threw sausage links on to brown, shook and poured the pancakes, and sauteed pears in butter with a tablespoon of brown sugar and a teeny bit of Penzey's Baking Spice.

You'd think I could cook. It was delish.

On the knitting front, this is one of my challenges of the month:

We moved into a neighborhood that decorates for Halloween, so I "have to" participate. I think I need to construct a RHSS web and silk for these two. I love them.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

So, since December, when I quit smoking, til NOW, I have put on a few extra pounds. That's actually a lie, because a few is like, 5. So this weekend, I went to Austin to an exercise workshop. I took a T-Tapp workout with Kirsten. That's serious work. I've also been getting up and walking with DH. First thing, and after dinner on most days-I know we've covered at least 10 miles a week, and we are working on the 3rd week. Gosh, I hope it helps.

I have a sneaking suspicion that a few of my pounds may be linked to my new adventures in hyperthyroidism. The doc put me on meds that took my TSH from .19 to 3.8. THAT's a big swing. We gotta talk about THAT.

Since I had to drive 130 miles, I drove another 10, and went to Ikea. Look at what I found! It's a Spoka nightlight. I am in LERVE! DH rolled his eyes, but blah blah blah.

In other news, my little brother and I talked last week, and made tentative plans to go to fat camp in the spring. I asked DH if he wanted to go drink broth, do yoga, and do some of the other things advertised. He will only go if there is beer involved. And he doesn't want the poop coach.

It bothers me that this guy is barely American, born here, educated overseas, was the victim of prejudice in Hawaii. OMG, freaking racially charged Ala Moana. Trust me, THAT's much different than Mississippi or Texas.

Why do I think he's barely American? There's his younger brother in Kenya, and his older brother in China, and don't forget the one in England. And there seems to be another one in Kenya.... it looks like Daddy Obama's specialty was women. Hit and quit it. But it's not that Daddy was a rogue, it's that it gives me a sense of rootlessness, of non-commitment. A lot of political figures have questionable family members, I am just used to them living in the same country, and meeting each other early on.

It says superficial attachment to me. And if a person is superficially attached to his family, is it possible that they could be superficially attached to a nation? Even tho they stood way up in the political food chain?

Friday, October 03, 2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

I don't wear much make-up. I think it comes from being raised in Colorado in the mid-70s. With my long straight hair, Cher and Emmylou Harris were my style icons; a girl could pretty much get away with a little shadow and mascara, and be done with it. When I was in the military, the older I got, the less spackle I messed with. After I got out, well, that's when my carefree makeup approach came to a screeching halt.

Somewhere in the past 20 years, I lost the ability to wear eyeshadow. Gasp!

I have greasy eyelids. Say that at any beauty counter, and the sales girl (yeah, I said it) will remark that your eyelids have no oil glands (and therefore you must be nuckin' futz, lady). That does not impede my ability to crease both expensive and cheap eyeshadows in less than half an hour. Even the waterproof stuff. I've never been able to wear the world's most popular mascara (Maybelline Great Lash) because it migrates and then I look like a tired, rabid raccoon.

I had to work for a PRK study to figure it out. One of the opthamologists mentioned that there are two kinds of tears-oily and regular. Some people have oily ones, some are normal.

Oh.

Which explains why I don't have pronounced crow's feet, despite smoking for years, but my (non-smoking) little brother does. My eyes are like my mom's, and his are more like dad's.

Well, that knowledge was useful, but not necessarily power. Now I learned to look at labels-most eyeshadow primers have beeswax or mineral oil in them. This weekend, I got a sample of Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion. My eyeshadow is uncreased!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

It was 62 this morning. That signals fall for us. DH is having co-workers over for a proposal writing crunch this afternoon, so I am making the best chili known to mankind. It'll clog your arteries in a heartbeat. It contains sausage AND butter. And hamburger. And chili meat.

Yeah, I know. But it's also pretty. Black beans, white beans, kidney beans, tomato, and three colors of pepper. It's a party in the bowl.

Here in Texas, real chili doesn't contain beans. Yeah, so sue me. I went to Alice Cooper's Town restaurant in Phoenix and ate Frito Pie once. (It's one of my little brother's guilty pleasures) After a few bites, I leaned over to my brother and said "This has KETCHUP in it!" Which must be how MamaAliceCooper made it when he was a kid. So if you wanna bitch at someone about their chili, go talk to Alice. I make pretty chili. And it's pretty tasty.

Friday, September 26, 2008

My niece sent me a text as I was pulling into Hancock Fabric's parking lot. "He's here, I can hear him crying!" So I picked up the two lousy skeins of floss that I drove a total of 70 miles to get ... that IS freaking ridiculous, isn't it? For seven little stitches?

But I NEEDED them. I am really pleased with the way it came out!!

And look at what ELSE I have to show you:

(Dang, that is a schnoz!!)

I present Brandon, Le Nephew!!! I have NO idea what the middle name is.